Crockpot Split Pea Soup

I'm not sure why, but I until a few months ago, Jess and I had never had split pea soup.  Seriously, though, why not? We both love peas and love soups, so I'm not sure how it had never crossed our bowls before...

So a few months ago, shortly after starting Weight Watchers, during one of my three-hour-long trips to the grocery store that ran my phone dead from using the barcode scanner on the WW app...geez this sentence is getting out of control...I found a package of "just add water" split pea soup.

It was amazing!  It is Alessi brand and literally you just boil 4 1/2 cups water, dump the package in and cook for about 15 minutes.  Jess seriously loves it!  I usually add a piece or two of bacon to his, just because he gets pretty grouchy with vegetarian meals, but I will eat it just as it is.  And the best part? Only 3 points per cup! WHATTT?  This is a seriously heavy, filling, starchy soup and is so low in points.  I added it to the rotation and we would eat it every few weeks, usually on weekends when we were busy.

And then it happened.

I went to Kroger and my beloved Alessi Split Pea Soup was on "final mark down."  I bought all the packages that they had (7, and I'm hoarding them for hard times), and hoped for the best.  Our Kroger was undergoing a big move and they were rearranging everything, so I hoped they were just trying to downscale their inventory.  However, the move has been finished for over a month now and they have yet to restock the Alessi soups...I'm sad.

In the midst of the chaos when I thought I'd never have my beloved soup again, I decided I needed to learn how to make it myself...to Pinterest!  I found several recipes, nabbed my favorite one, changed it a bit, and this is how it turned out.

I am going to just go out and say this: I don't like this homemade recipe as much as the bagged kind. Weird? Maybe, but it is true.  Second, it is not nearly as healthy (and I'm not sure why...), coming in at 7 points per cup.  However, it is REALLY filling, and 1 cup to 1 1/2 cup is plenty for me, so that is good. You can leave the meat out or substitute for something like ham hocks, leftover ham from Thanksgiving, bacon, etc.

Ingredients
16 oz dried Split Peas
1 small Onion
2 small/medium Carrots
2 cloves Garlic
12 oz Ham Steaks
7 cups Chicken Broth
1/2 teaspoon Ground Mustard
1/4 teaspoon Ground Thyme
Salt and Pepper, to taste
1/2 to 1 tablespoon Olive Oil

Did I mention this was cheap?

Heat oil to medium heat in skillet.  Brown the ham steaks to form a nice crust.  This took me like 10-12 minutes, flipping them every few minutes to check the other side. Remove and put on plate, do not drain oil or wipe pan.

Finely mince your onion, carrots, and garlic.  I ran mine through a food processor, but you don't have to.  They will pretty much break down and get super soft in the crockpot, so it isn't necessary to make them really small, it is probably more personal preference.

Add the vegetables to the hot skillet and saute for a few minutes.  I just let them brown a little to soak up some of the ham & oil flavor.

I'm not sure what happened to this photo...sorry! I need a new camera...

Add ham, vegetables, peas, chicken broth, and seasonings to crockpot.  Set to low and cook for 8-10 hours.

Haha, this doesn't even look appealing at all, but it is! 

Remove the ham steaks, cut into bite-sized pieces.  You could probably have done this before putting it all in the crockpot, I just didn't.  My ham was so soft it didn't even really need cut, it could pretty much be shredded with two forks.

Feed some ham pieces to anxious puppies.

Mix the ham back in.

Serve!  The great thing about this is that it will literally stay in the crockpot forever on warm.  Ok, not forever, but all day and evening.

The texture is amazing, too.  Such a thick, hearty soup for not many ingredients or much effort.